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Black and Pink

About Us

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

Black & Pink is an open family of LGBTQ prisoners and “free world” allies who support each other. Our work toward the abolition of the prison industrial complex is rooted in the experience of currently and formerly incarcerated people. We are outraged by the specific violence of the prison industrial complex against LGBTQ people, and respond through advocacy, education, direct service, and organizing.

CURRENT PROJECTS

1. An online pen pal program where LGBTQ prisoners can list their name, address, and 25-word (non-sexual) ad describing what they want from a pen pal. 2. A monthly newsletter made up of stories, poetry, art, and essays by currently and formerly incarcerated LGBTQ people. Currently incarcerated folks are encouraged to share their stories with Black & Pink so we can put them in the newsletter and nurture a sense of connection between LGBTQ people incarcerated around the country. 3. An art project that sells artwork sent to us by LGBTQ prisoners. All of the money we get for the artwork is put back into the commissary accounts of the artists. The artwork supports prisoners who are exploring their creativity and allows them to connect with “free world” folks who purchase and sell their artwork. 4. Direct advocacy and support for a few select individuals who are experiencing harassment, sexual violence, lack of access to health care, mistreatment, etc. We are not able to do advocacy work for everyone at this time because of capacity, but we do the best we can.

ANALYSIS

Our organizing efforts are guided by a larger goal of collective liberation. We hold strong to a feminist, anti-racist, queer liberationist, anti-capitalist, radical analysis of social, ecological, and economic struggles. We understand the prison industrial complex to be part of a larger system that utilizes systems of oppression to divide people and exploit our individual and collective power. Through movement building and sustained direct action against these systems of violence we will create the world we dream of.

We also celebrate in the beauty of what exists now including our love for each other, the strength of our planet, incredible human resiliency, and all of the power we have to continue existing. While dreaming and struggling for a better world we embody a deep commitment to living in the present.

We understand abolition as not only our end goal but also our pragmatic strategy for action. Any advocacy, services, organizing, and direct action we take will be sure to remove bricks from the system, not put in others we will need to abolish later. We will willingly work with reformist organizations on campaigns we believe are abolitionist, even if they are only small steps at alleviating the suffering caused by the prison industrial complex.

We root our work in the experience of currently and formerly incarcerated people. To best maintain an accountable relationship to incarcerated people, half of those in the leadership circle are currently incarcerated. We also prioritize the voices of formerly incarcerated people as our “free-world” members of the leadership circle. We know that those most impacted by the violence of the prison industrial complex are best equipped with the knowledge of how to tear it down.

As of today Black & Pink’s “free-world” membership is primarily Boston-based. We commit to supporting one another, sharing the work of our organizing efforts, and nurturing the growth of our family both inside and outside the walls. We intend to expand our national and international membership, creating chapters in other cities, towns, schools, neighborhoods, etc.

TERMINOLOGY There are many “buzz” words used in our statement of purpose and shared analysis. We wanted to provide a brief glossary of terms to help clarify our intentions behind our choice of wording.

Prison Industrial Complex – The prison industrial complex is a multifaceted construction of control and domination, most commonly seen as the U.S. prison and jail system, the concrete and steel buildings that warehouse individuals. While prisons and jails are a pivotal aspect, the prison industrial complex includes an entire culture of state and corporate collusion to control, discipline, and torture poor/low-income communities and communities of color. The tactics range from police forces to cameras mounted in communities; from the (in)justice system to corporate profiteering from prison phone calls; from immigration enforcement to media depictions of “criminals”; and on and on. (adapted from Critical Resistance)

Abolition – “Abolition defines both the goal we seek and the way we do our work today. Abolition means a world where we do not use prisons, policing and the larger system of the prison industrial complex as an ‘answer’ to what are social, political, and economic problems. Abolition means that instead we put in place the things that would reduce incidents of harm at the front end and address harm in a non-punitive manner when harm does occur. Abolition means that harm will occur far less often and that, when harm does occur, we address the causes of that harm rather than rely on the failed solutions of punishment. Thus, abolition is taking a harm reductionist approach to our society’s problems. Abolition means creating sustainable, healthy communities empowered to create safety and rooted in accountability, instead of relying on policing, courts, and imprisonment which are not creating safe communities.” Rose Braz, former director of Critical Resistance

“Free World” – We understand “free world” people to be those who are not currently in prison/jail/detention/etc. We use quotation marks because we understand the terminology of freedom to be deeply complex. There are those who would suggest that none of us are free as there is such heavy surveillance in our communities—the tentacles of the prison industrial complex are expansive. Others would suggest that freedom exists within ourselves and that it can never be taken from us. Regardless of how one understands freedom, in our terminology “free world” refers to those not currently confined in prison/jail/detention/etc.

LGBTQ – This acronym stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer. We understand that human sexuality and gender is far more complicated than this acronym. We are striving to find better terminology to include all people who identify outside of heterosexual and gender-conforming boundaries. Other identities people have used when writing to us that we are striving to affirm include same gender loving, homosexual, homophile, transsexual, transvestite, nelly, sissy, and dyke, along with many others.

FISCAL SPONSORSHIP

Black and Pink is proud to be fiscally sponsored by Queers for Economic Justice.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

Black & Pink is an open family of LGBTQ prisoners and “free world” allies who support each other. Our work toward the abolition of the prison industrial complex is rooted in the experience of currently and formerly…